Glamorous end to 2014 World Cup with final featuring supermodel Giselle
Bundchen, American pop star Rihanna, LeBron James, the Lionel Messi of
basketball, David Beckham and Sir Mick Jagger

It has been widely recognised as the greatest of World Cup tournaments.

Sunday's final promises to be the most glamorous and certainly the most watched.

Supermodels and pop stars will mix with world leaders and ordinary fans at the climax of a month’s football that has seen Brazil lose seven-one to Germany in a semi-final and Luis Suarez banned for biting an opponent on the shoulder.

With tickets changing hands for as much as £11,000, most fans will of course watch it on television.

The global audience is expected to tip the billion mark for the first time ever.

In the best Brazilian tradition, FIFA’s famous gold trophy will be unveiled to the World Cup Final crowd by the country’s most famous export - the supermodel Giselle Bundchen.

The 33-year-old, for those who don’t know, is the world’s highest paid supermodel and a former girlfriend of the actor Leonardo DiCaprio.

Miss Bundchen will be joined in the celebrations at the Maracana stadium by the American pop star Rihanna, who flew into Rio de Janeiro on Friday but who has spent much of the tournament tweeting about the games.

Rihanna, 26, is the arguably the best known living female pop star on the planet. She also happens to endorse Budweiser, the American beer company, which is an official sponsor of the tournament and which has ensured Rihanna’s appearance at the final.

Others in attendance include Shakira, the Colombian pop star, who will - for the third World Cup final running - perform at the closing ceremony.

There was talk Rihanna may perform alongside her.

LeBron James, the Lionel Messi of basketball, will also attend. His presence further cements football’s position as the leading global sport and which is now on the verge of properly conquering America.

David Beckham and Sir Mick Jagger will be there as well, providing England with at least a presence in the final - three weeks after the team was knocked out in the usual, dismal style.

Scotland will be represented in the hunky shape of Gerard Butler, the Hollywood heart throb.

While obviously less glamorous, the politically powerful presence of Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, and Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, will also be felt. Mr Putin is in town as part of the hand over to Russia which will stage the 2018 tournament.

Mrs Merkel was trying to stay calm and dampen expectation with Germany going into the final as firm favourites. “It certainly won’t be easy; after the 7:1 [against Brazil] everybody thinks 'It’s almost done’ - that’s why we all need to cross our fingers again,” she said

By last night, an estimated 100,000 Argentinians had made Brazil their home, ahead of the final against Germany. While the local population will cheer on Germany, fans of Argentina, their great rivals, are expected to dominate inside the Maracana.

They will also in all likelihood have God on their side, or at least the blessing of Pope Francis, who hails from Buenos Aires. Yesterday, he tweeted: “The World Cup allowed people from different countries and religions to come together. May sport always promote the culture of encounter.”

It was claimed yesterday that back in February, Brazil’s president Dilma Rousseff asked two favours of Pope Francis when she visited him at the Vatican.

One was to deliver a televised address, which was duly broadcast on Brazilian television last week, and the other was to plead for neutrality.

“She [Miss Rousseff] asked him not to pray for Argentina to win, which would give them an unfair advantage,” said the Colombian archbishop, ”scar Urbina Ortega, who was a witness to the meeting.

The Pope said he would “pray for everyone”.

Miss Rousseff was yesterday putting a brave face on her country's humiliating exit.

“We competently maintained peace and order as well as having good airport administration among other successes,” the Brazilian president declared. Brazil’s supporters will see little consolation in this.

As the Pope settles down to watch the final in The Vatican, he does so along with a worldwide audience of as many as a billion people.

For the final in 2010 in South Africa, an estimated 909.6 million people watched at least a minute of the final and 619.7 million watched at least 20 consecutive minutes.

With Lionel Messi, the world’s greatest and most loved footballer, taking on Germany, the best team in the competition, interest is likely to be far higher in tonight’s game than tuned in for Spain versus Netherlands four years ago.

Many of the Argentines who have flocked to Rio will also have to make do with watching the game on television.

They have been unable to find hotel rooms and yesterday began camping out on Copacabana beach, turning the area into a makeshift camp, adding to Brazil’s misery.